Tag Archives: MagneTag

Shark Tank + MagneTag

Posted on by Pete Prodoehl

MagneTag + Shark Tank

You’ve probably heard a little bit about MagneTag before if you’ve seen Adam or Jason H. around the space. Adam’s been working on it for a few years now, and Jason H. jumped on board when he saw how awesome it was. The latest in MagneTag news is a call back to the TV show Shark Tank.

Yes, that’s right. Shark Tank. It seems they were in Milwaukee recently scouting ideas for the show and our MagnTag boys impressed them enough to pique their interest, so they’re preparing to wow them again, and we’re pretty sure they’ll succeed!

MagneTag is a bit of a makerspace success story. Adam and Jason H. would agree that without Milwaukee Makerspace, it would not have come this far. Let’s all wish MagneTag luck as they wade into the shark-infested waters of potential investors!

Why don’t you just die.

Posted on by Cohen, Adam

As I am finalizing my MagneTag prototype for a small production run, I have been looking into efficient ways to cut fabric.  Right now I trace by hand and and cut with scissors.  I’m currently thinking I may want to make several hundred of these initial units.

With that in mind I am going to try die cutting my design with a shop press.  Since I’m not exactly sure what my final product will look like aesthetically, I am reluctant to shell out a lot of money to have a die professionally fabricated. What’s the fun in that?  I figured I would try my hand at a home brew hacked version.

I laser etched my design into two different substrates: wood and acrylic.  Then a took an old rusty bandsaw blade and hammered it teeth down into the laser kerf.   Then I took a Dremmel and ground a sharp edge into the steel.

An initial test on a manual hydraulic press gave mixed results.  The wood is too soft to keep the blade from becoming embedded; the steel needs to pass all the way through the substrate.  The acrylic seemed to work better, and surprisingly did not break when I tried to use it.

There is still lots of room for improvement, but I’m pretty happy with this first attempt.

DIY Bandsaw Blade Cutting Dies.

DIY Bandsaw Blade Cutting Dies.

Gettin' my grind on.

Gettin’ my grind on.

P.S. This is the 500th post on this blog!

Spring 2012 Gallery Night

Posted on by plural

Kevin's Noise Box
Kevin’s Noise Box (Photo by Pete Prodoehl).

On Friday April 20th, 2012, several members of the Milwaukee Makerspace participated in the Spring Gallery Night event hosted at BucketWorks and put on in collaboration with ArtWorks for Milwaukee.  Several hundred people came through the space to check out works from both groups.  ArtWorks also had a nice write-up of the night from their point of view. We love getting our crazy work out in front of people.

So, gentle Reader, I present to you an inventory of our Makers and Their Works:

  • Kevin Bastyr
    • The Mahoganator – A noise box encased in a lovely Mahogany shell.
    • The Cacophonator – A noise box encased in a lovely welded metal shell.
    • Cast bronze tree-trunk table.
    • Angle grinder table from the One Tool Competition.
  • Adam Cohen
    • Functional MagneTag prototype! Gallery night patrons were invited to run through the space playing MagneTag.
  • Jason Gessner
    • Step – A step sequencer controlled by a Dance Dance Revolution Controller, Processing and Logic Pro.
  • Matt Neesley
    • CNC Architectural Relief Sculptures.
  • Pete Prodoehl
    • The Arc-O-Matic! A one-armed, 2 servo-enabled drawing robot.
    • Wooden Knuckles and Wooden Nickels.
    • Other crafty 3D printed replacement parts and creations.
  • Vishal Rana
    • Laser Harp and Propane Tank Drum
  • Shane Thielen
    • The Eye Wooden Block Sculpture
    • Laser Printed Periodic Table of the Elements.

Check out Pete’s Time Lapse Bot footage of the event. I’m seen messing around with my laptop a lot until I settled on a sound set I liked for the Step.

In addition, the folks from the newly-forming Spring City Launchpad makerspace in Waukesha were there to get the word out.

And if that wasn’t enough, Jason H. had 2 of Pete’s Drawbots collaborating at the Art Milwaukee Wedding after party!

Big thanks to Tim @ Bucketworks and the folks at ArtWorks for sharing the space with us and inviting us to the festivities!

More photos of the night shot by Brant are available on Flickr.